Goodness Grays!

I do not recall ever hearing the term 'steampunk' when I lived in the UK some 30 years ago, but apparently it is quite mainstream today. According to a gentleman from 'The League of Essextraordinary Gentlemen', steampunk is a subculture that draws its inspiration from the works of Victorian science fiction writers by attempting to recreate the future as the Victorians might have imagined it to be. The steampunk maxim is "Be Splendid" by adopting neo-Victorian clothing, by creating splendid artefacts of wood and brass, steam and clockwork, and by their attitude to others. So, let me give you a selection of outfits spotted at this event held at the Museum of Power, Langford.

As you can see, some of these costumes are really quite complex. But that's the point! People take pride in building the most extraordinary outfits and mechanical devices. So if you fancy joining in when such an event is held near you, then the simplest thing is to start with the hat. It would appear that any hat with some sort of goggles is the minimum requirement, at least for the gentlemen. For women it is all about the corset! So here's a selection of hats…..

But today's event was also a place for fun, entertainment, and intrigue. We met a couple of authors selling their wares (Craig Hallam and Raven Dane) and discovered that Goths like to read but Steampunkers do not! One couple even suggested that Steampunkers (I don't actually know if this is a real word!) were just older Goths. But we did see quite a range of ages and it seems that whole families get involved in dressing up in this unique style.

People don't just dress up their clothes in this style. Below is a photo of Brett Alexander Robertson with his 1983 Honda GL-1100 Goldwing. He has modified this bike into 'The Steampunked Sherlock Holmes & Dr John H Watson Private Investigation Motorcycle'. Isn't is gorgeous? It carries all the equipment a PI would need to solve a murder, and is highly decorated. This bike would make a great addition to a steampunk wedding.

Inside the museum area I also met these two guys selling perfumed items. I reckon they should bring back colourful waistcoats as a fashion item!

The of course was the entertainment. We didn't see everything that was available today, but the event closed with rapping by Professor Elemental. He was very entertaining and well worth looking out for. You can see some of the origins of the hat and goggles style in his Victorian explorer costume.

And perhaps one of the bigger crowd-pullers was a display of owls which could perch on your arm, for a fee. Most looked quite sleepy, presumably because they are nocturnal, and some were quite tiny.

All in all, it was a wonderful day out and shows that there are many different ways for people to enjoy life!